Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-06
Mn. BLAcKMAN's REPORT.

xR. BLAcKMAN's REPORT.
Tho following is the report Of Mr..
Blacknan, expert accountant, who
examined the County Auditors books;
TO the Honorable the Supervisors for
the County of Los angeles.
GnNTLsnnN-In accordance with in
structions received I have made q
careful and complete examination OF
the books OF the County Auditor, to-
gether with all tho vouchers pertain
ing thereto, covering tho period from
September l, 1886, to June 30, 1887, l
find everything in these books to be
correctly entered and accounted for.
All transfers ordered by your Board
to be made from one fund to another
are made upon the books the veracity
of which have ascertained BY refer
ence to the minute books OF your
board meetings. There are no trans
| fers made without corresponding
authority. The accounts are clearly
kept and as far As 1 can see quite as
we'll kept as they have ever been; the
system adopted by the Auditor being
simple, SO simple and plain that the
history OF each fund is contained
! in the account itself and is
not an exhibition of figures
only. There are few erasures-this
| is one thing it would be well for all
officials to avoid; it is far better to
rule . mistake through than erase it,
although the general custom is to seek
the aid of the knife, but it is = custom
| fraught with danger of misrepresenta-
ton.
The road fund accounts as kept in
the Auditors books are Individually
as we'll as in the aggregate correct.
| 1t is with these accounts and those OF
the school funds that most all the
! transfers take place. To the uninitiat-
ed the entries might have the appear
ance of being corrections Of entries
previously made, but examination will
prove otherwise.
The accounts for the months of Sep
tember, October, November and De-
cember 1886 are contained in one
book, while q new book is started for
January /, 1887. In the first book l
| find that some Of the entries and foot
| ings have been checked by the expert
for the grand jury, while in the book
following 1 cannot trace q single
check or mark showing they were ever
examined. This latter book contains
the larger part of the work and it
certainly should have been examined,
as the whole period, September to
June, was embodied in the experts
report.
/ have examined the fee books of
the Sheriff, County Recorder and
County Clerk Ss the monthly totals
agree with the settlements made by
those officers with the Auditor, all of
which are verified by the Treasurer's
vouchers; the footings are in every
respect correct in the books of the
Sheriff and County Recorder as certi-
fed to by the Auditor, while those in
the books of the Clerk are in reality
correct, there being only four small
differences: 1. A page costs dollar
more, but l find note calling atten-
ton to an entry put in after the addi-
tion was made, at page 81 the column
foots so cents more; at page 80 the
column foots 81 less; at page 1iS the
column foots so cents more, in this
column there is one entry of $1.50 but
the is 80 uncertain as to form that
any one might pass it over, the differ
ence is therefore 81 in the aggregate,
which is accounted for by the Clerk in
the subsequent month.
As to the accounts of the late
County Tax Collector can add nc
more than is stated in my report SC
recently submitted.
| Respectfully yours,
w. r. BLACKMAN,
Expert Accountant.
Los Angeles, August %.
| ACTION OF THE BOARD.
| On motion of Supervisor Venable
the following report was unanimously
adopted:
| WHEREAS, Attention was brought to
this Board and to the people of the
county at large, to report on account
of the County Auditor compiled by J.
S. Mackenzie, expert of the Grand
Jury; and
| WHEREAS, This Board believing il
IuclT uuCy W udNc tllO DOOAo Vi liic
County Auditor exported and exam
ined by some competent accountant
appointed Mr.. w. r. Blackman, ex.
pert accountant, for that purpose; and
! WHEREAS, Having read the report
of Mr.. Blackman, which exonorates
the County Auditor from the charges
made by said j. S. Mackenzie, it is
hereby
Resolued, That we believe the charges
brought by said j. S. Mackenzie to bt
unjustifable and without any founda
ton.
MACKENZIE WILL ANSWER.
J. S. Mackenzie desires to withhold
his answer to the above article pub
lished by A. A. Montana until he can
by acknowledged facts and figures
verify the statements he made to the
County Grand Jury. His answer will
appear in full in the issue of the day
after tomorrow.
Magnetism.
| II,